Database of light aircraft models

[modelbear]

Thanks Paul. Any kit details that you can add will be much appreciated and I will include them in the next update.

There are 11 Dujin gliders in the list already but if there are more out there, I will be happy to add them. Email or pm are fine - I assume that will work automatically through the forum setup.

Getting this kind of kit information is one of the reasons I decided to put this list together. Following the forums, I would see people asking about a model of a particular kit and person A knows about kits X and Y, person B knows about kit Z etc. but there was no central repository of this knowledge - at least for GA kits anyway. A collated list specific to each category seemed the best way to put all this together so that anyone in the future can easily find what has been produced in the past and what to start looking for if they want to build a model of a specific aircraft or theme. However, there is no guarantee that they will be able to find the kit they are after (or be able to afford it if it is rare).

Peter

[transadriatica]

Thank you Peter, very exhaustive information. I look forward to the other "tabs" of your listing.

Michele

Edited March 18, 2014 by transadriatica

[RHB785]

Has anyone thought of all the Soviet light aircraft from the 20s onwards, from the Tupolev Ant-2 to the Yakovlevs of the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and up to today. There are also the Grokhovsky light planes and those from Grigorovich and Nikitin just to mention a few. There are quite a few Yak light types available from A model, the Nikitins from Prop and Jet. A model have started making the Kalinin series of lighties starting with the Kalinin K-5.

Cheers,

Ross.

[Hotel Papa]

Roden has a few.

Pilatus PC 6 Turbo Porter, which comes in various civvie guises. Often used as a drop plane by parachutists.

Beech staggerwing, beautiful plane.

And if we're talking An-2: Bilek makes one, so does Valom, so does one of the newish chinese guys. Trumpeter?

Edited March 19, 2014 by Hotel Papa

[modelbear]

I have never heard of Grokhovsky, Grigorovich, Nikitin or Kalinin aircraft before. I'll look them up to find out a bit more about them.

There have been some pretty amazing colour schemes out there for some of the porters used in parachuting operations. They would certainly add some colour to a model collection.

[RHB785]

Hi model bear,

There isn't much in the way of Grokhovsky's lighties on the net as I've found out today. His G-38 twin boom fighter and the G-37 container plane are all I could find on the net. If you can get your hands on a copy of the late Bill Gunston's book The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995 he has a section on each of the Soviet/Russian designer/constructors during that period. Another designer I forgot to mention in my previous post was Moskalev. The Soviet/Russian designers produced some very pretty light aircraft and I feel it's a shame that more of them aren't available as plastic kits. When I get some time I'll dig up my very well worn copy of Bill's book and list the lighties here.

Then there are the other eastern European countries that built aircraft; Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia to name some off the top of my head at 1:30 am.

I've found my copy of the book and Grokhovsky did produce a light container plane of similar concept to the later American Packet where a shaped container was wheeled in under the aircraft and flown to a destination somewhere and an empty or full container flown back. The designer I was trying to think of was Gribovskii who designed a series of very pretty single and twin engined lighties before WW2 and a troop carrying glider during WW2.

Cheers,

Ross.

[modelbear]

Hi Ross,

Thanks for the information. When I started looking into listing the GA aircraft kits, I certainly was not aware of much of the history of eastern European aircraft development that has occurred, particularly in the early years. I was familiar with more of the US-UK development and have found it interesting to discover many different aircraft and companies that have existed in the past. I am only relying on the internet for my research and there are certainly many gaps in this area on the net but I have certainly learnt a lot so far.

Cheers,

Peter

[RHB785]

I'll do the best I can to provide a list of at least the Soviet and Russian lighties and the Czech ones as well. Of course anyone is welcome to add any that I miss or don't yet know about. There are many beautiful (and a few not so beautiful) types that were built in just about every country throughout the globe from the 20s right up to today. In fact there are probably hundreds of different light types that have been built for both civil and military purposes, some for both and some civilian types that were converted for military use and vice versa.

Cheers,

Ross.

[modelbear]

Thanks in advance for that information. I do already have a list of GA light aircraft (not yet on the webpage) from various countries which are next on my to-do list. I will add the information to the page as I complete various manufacturers but there will undoubtedly be many planes and kits I will miss in the process and any contributions are much appreciated.

Tonight's update has added in Business aircraft (make sure to reload the tab if it doesn't look right) and a few other aircraft in other categories.

Cheers,

Peter

[modelbear]

I now have a lot more in my list of GA aircraft, and the list now includes GA, aerobatic, autogyro, business, crop+fire, gliders, race pre-ww1: ww1-ww2: Schneider trophy: MacRobertson air race: post ww2, warbirds. The website is:

http://www.users.on.net/~modelbears/gakitlist.htm

Peter

Edited August 29, 2014 by modelbear

[foresterab]

Amazing work modelbear,

Of course now you've pointed out a lot more models to find

Cheers,

foresterab

[CarLos]

I now have a lot more in my list of GA aircraft, and the list now includes GA, aerobatic, autogyro, business, crop+fire, gliders, race pre-ww1: ww1-ww2: Schneider trophy: MacRobertson air race: post ww2, warbirds. The website is:

http://www.users.on.net/~modelbears/gakitlist.htm

Peter

Fantastic list, Peter! There are certainly a lot of kits unknown to me in it.

Carlos

[Ham]

Peter,

Great work, you found quite a few kits of which I was unaware. Some very interesting stuff out there. I didn't see the Hobbycraft DeHavilland Canada DHC-3 Otter or the Matchbox / Revell DeHavilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter.

cheers,

Bill

[modelbear]

Thanks for the comments. I haven't added planes like the Otter or Twin Otter because I would have to create 'commuter / utitlity / airline' categories to put them in. These are areas that certainly deserve categories of their own and it would be interesting to see the range of kits that have been produced. I may get to this sometime as I did keep records of some that I found during my search for GA aircraft but what I have so far is only the beginnings of a new category.

Cheers,

Peter

[Oldmodels Decals]

Kiwi Resins do a Vega Gull and two versions of the Mew Gull. Someone mentioned the Auster J - this didn't make it. They also do the PAC CT-4 - the prototype and a number of older versions are in private and aeroclub use.

Khee Kha do the Cessna 180/185.

John

[modelbear]

John, Thanks for the info. I didn't know of the Kiwi Resins Mew Gull kits and I will add them in the next update.

I had assumed that all Austers were military but as you stated the Auster J should be in the list. After a quick search, I have found two kits - Lincoln and Kiwi Resins - of the Auster J series with the remainder that I found being military versions. I don't know how much difference there is between the various military and civil J series versions of the Auster (I only just found out that the civil versions existed!) so it may be possible to build the civil version quite easily from a military kit if they share the same external details.

The CT4 was a military trainer which is why I have not included it on the list. There are many ex-military trainers, such as the Tiger moth, Chipmunk, Scottish aviation bulldog, CAC Winjeel, etc., that are now part of the GA fleet but are not on my list. I have included the warbird category to list military aircraft kits released with civil markings, such as the recent Airfix tiger moth.

The Kiwi Resins Vega Gull and the Khee-Kha 180/185 are already on the list.

Peter

[John Aero]

The CT.4 was also built as the civil Glosair Air Tourer IIRC in UK. Remember that Austers were Taylorcraft's first and Auster was the British manufacturing name and most versions were built as civil aircraft. The Lincoln kit is an odd scale (1/41) and is of the Autocar which has a much different appearance to most of the others in the J series.

John

[Jessica]

I have included the warbird category to list military aircraft kits released with civil markings, such as the recent Airfix tiger moth.

If we're dividing rabbits, the Tiger Moth was a civilian aircraft which was also produced for the military. All Moths were civilian first, military second.

[modelbear]

The CT.4 was developed from the Airtourer. The CT.4 has a larger engine and different canopy which are the main external differences (according to Wikipedia). I would be happy to add the Airtourer to the list if there I knew of any kits of it.

I thought that the Tiger Moth was a military development of the Moth series of aircraft (e.g. they had to sweep the wings to improve entry/exit to the front cockpit to meet military requirements) which is why I called it a military aircraft. However, most but not all of the Tiger moths built were sold to the military so strictly speaking, I should say it is a predominantly military aircraft.

This has now got me thinking about former military aircraft (or civil sales of the millitary version of the aircraft) that have gone on to forge their own career in GA after military life and how to include them on my list. Aircraft like the Tiger Moth and many Austers would fall into this category along with quite a few others. They are different to a warbird such as a Spitfire which has been restored and put on the civil register as a flying example of the type. I'll think about this as it may warrant a new category (or I could just include them in the GA aircraft pages).

Peter

[Ham]

Peter, I just want you to know that because of your excellent web list of general aviation aircraft, my bank account is being depleted. I am buying some of these kits I didn't even know about. You did a really nice job on your list.

I hope you will be able to add a utility or light transport category that would include the DHC-3 Otter, DHC-6 Twin Otter and their contemporaries.

Bill

[Mick_Gannon]

Did anyone mention the Williams Brothers range of 1/32 scale Golden Year racers which are still being made by Brett Industries, the quality has not changed that much crude by todays stand for detail but overall shape is very close to published information.

Also Lindberg did the Laird Turner in1/32 which was also made by Pyro this model is not accurate and was reworked by a polish modeller to produce a cup winning model, sadly he died this year www.pmw.org.pl there are 13 pages of what he did to make it accurate.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Mick_Gannon

[modelbear]

The Williams Brothers racers are on the list, along with the Lindberg Laird Turner but I don't have the Pyro release listed at the moment. I'll add it in the next update.

I think it is amazing the work that some people do to create fantastic models from these old kits. It's just a pity that modern, more accurate kits of these planes are not available but I must admit to being pleasantly surprised by the number of kits that have been produced over the years in this niche area of aircraft modelling. My 'wants' list has certainly gone up significantly because of what I have found.

Peter

[rafju]

The Cessna 172 and Hughes 500 were in 1/20 scale, and produced by Nichimo. They may be found from time to time on Evil-bay.

Nichimo also produced an Aerosubaru Fuji/FA200 in 1/20th, outstanding model!

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=25871

[DennisTheBear]

Ah, sorry for reviving this old thread, but I read it with fascination.

And I realized no-one had mentioned the Matchbox/Revell Heinkel He 70, which comes with Luft Hansa markings.

[John Aero]

There's a couple I didn't see in your list, the Solido 1/43 scale Jodel Ambassador and the Lindburg 1/48 Stinson Station Wagon.

John